LITTLE RICH GIRL
Chapter Fifteen

The ships that had nothing but Jedi in them landed in the ruins of the city of Theed. Master Mace Windu stepped out in the darkness, lit only by the fires that still burned from the bombs.

"My gods," was all he could say. "Start looking for survivors now!" he yelled at the Jedi who were coming off the ships. Yoda came walking out.

"Must find our three Jedi friends, yes." Yoda looked around the wasteland. It was the early hours of the morning, about three o’clock. The Senate had also sent out the new army for the Republic to help as well. The Jedi and the clones looked for any survivors. Medical staff set up, but all they could find were dead bodies. Each was given a section of the place and told to tally who was alive and who was dead. The palace would be hard to search, but they had to. It was nothing but ruins now. The palace that once shimmered in the sunlight was rubble now. About a hundred Jedi and clones would search the palace ruins. The Jedi would pick up the heavy pieces for the clones to look under.

After the first layer was searched, they went lower. They called out to see if anyone would respond.

*****

Meanwhile, down in the bunker, Padmé stirred awake. She didn’t remember much. The lights had gone out and people had screamed as the ceiling caved in. She held her hand out and felt the cool concrete so close to her. It was pitch black and she heard nothing, no one. Was she the only one left? No, she thought, people might just be sleeping, like I was. What about Anakin? And Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon? Where were they? Were they all right? Millions of things went through her mind. She didn’t know if she was boxed in or if she could crawl out. But she felt dizzy and didn’t want to move. She closed her eyes again and started to drift off to sleep.

On top of the bunker, just a few feet away, the troops and Jedi stood right above Padmé. The Jedi lifted more chunks of concrete, but only found smashed bodies.

"We didn’t get here soon enough," Mace said as he looked around. After a little while, they were closer to Padmé. She was half-asleep, half-awake. She woke to a faint noise. It sound like someone calling. Then it became clearer. It was a few people asking for anyone to answer back. She woke completely and started to bang on the low roof above her.

"Help! I’m down here! Please help!" Her voice was raspy, but she screamed as loud as she could. "Please!" She banged the concrete and cried as she did. She still heard them calling for anyone. "I’m…I’m here…please help." She sobbed because they couldn’t hear her. "Please." She put her hands on her face and cried. Their voices became faint now. She hit the concrete with all the energy she had left. "Please! Help!" she cried again.

The Jedi and clones turned around and saw a canis. Their hopes were crushed, wishing that it had been someone. Then they noticed that the canis was whimpering and digging right there.

"What is it, boy?" Mace came up to the canis. Mace used the Force and lifted the concrete away. The more he moved, the louder the voice got. "Someone’s alive!" he yelled out. The nearby Jedi and clones came over. Padmé saw some sky, then a few men above her. Mace pulled her out, but she had no energy to stand. "Tell the medic team we’ve found someone," Mace said. He held the young girl close to him, but then he noticed something. She was wearing a Jedi cloak. "Miss?" He looked at her pale face, dark circles around her eyes. She looked up at him. "Where did you get that cloak?"

"An…Ani…" She was so tired.

"Anakin Skywalker? Do you mean Anakin Skywalker? Is he down there?" She nodded slightly. "How many people are down there?"

"Maybe…a…thousand." A clone came over.

"The stretchers aren’t out yet. They said just to carry her over," the clone said.

"Trooper, gather another unit. We have people less than three feet below us. Get them."

"Yes, Master Windu." Mace picked Padmé up and carried her off. Padmé looked up at the sky but saw nothing but smoke. After a short walk, a group people set her down on a cot and hooked her up to some fluids.

*****

Padmé felt someone’s hand in hers and she woke. Her face lit up at seeing her father.

"Dad." She sat up on the small cot and hugged him. He cried as he held her.

"I’ve been looking for you." He looked at her face. The team of medics hadn’t bothered to clean her up any, but it didn’t matter. She was alive.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"About ten in the morning," Ruwee said, but Padmé looked around. She was in a hut of some kind. There were other people, as well. But it was too dark out to be ten in the morning.

Her sister came in. The two hugged, and Richard was there, as well, and he hugged Padmé, too. But someone was missing.

"Dad? Anakin? Where’s Anakin?" she asked. Her father stared at her hard.

"Oh, my sweet." When he said that, she felt it in her heart. Ruwee swallowed. "They’re still pulling people out of the palace, but they’ve seen it. About five hundred out of five thousand lived. They’re pulling out the dead ones right now. I found a Jedi, the Jedi who brought you here. He…he has pronounced that…Obi-Wan…Qui-Gon, and…Anakin…are dead." Padmé stared at her father and shook her head slowly. Tears formed in her eyes, and she was shaking her head even more.

"No…no, no, no."

"I’m sorry."

"No." Padmé got up from her cot and ran outside the hut. Her heart sank to her feet at the ruins she saw. Fires were still burning, the sky was gray with smoke, and she could smell the burning rubble. She ran to were the palace should stand, which was not far away. She saw it. It was in ruins now, a pile of rubble. Her father, sister, and Richard saw her standing there. The wind was blowing her tangled hair and the cloak. Tears formed in her eyes. "No. Anakin! You cannot leave me here!" she screamed. Sola let some tears fall. "You cannot leave me here!" She looked down at the ground, seeing parts of a droid, and anger filled her. She took the parts of the droid and started to throw them. "Why? Why me? What did I do?" She ran out of parts and fell to her knees. Her father came up to her and tried to comfort her, but she pushed him away. "Leave me! Leave me!" She sobbed into her hands.

Padmé was brought back to her cot and her mother came in, as did someone else. Bail.

"Isn’t wonderful, Padmé? We can be one big happy family," Jobal said. Padmé sat on her cot and Bail came over to hug her. He was beaten up a bit, a few cuts on his face, a broken wrist. But to her, he should be down in the dark, dead, not Anakin. She pulled away. She didn’t want him to touch her.

"Please go away," she said.

"Padmé, we can start over. We’ll go back to Alderaan, get married, and be happy," he said, and sat down on the cot beside her.

"No, thank you," Padmé replied.

"Padmé!" Jobal was a bit appalled. Bail noticed that she was still wearing the cloak and the little necklace.

"Why do you wear those?" Bail asked.

"I like them. They’re Anakin’s."

"Yes, and he’s dead," Bail said. Padmé looked at him. She threw a punch at his face. He flipped off the cot, his feet going over his head. He stood up, and Padmé got off the cot.

"I’m going to rip what’s left of your hair out!" Padmé shouted, and ran after Bail. He ran away. Ruwee ran after Padmé and was able to save Bail from a beating.

"Come, Padmé. Let’s you and I take a walk, huh?" Ruwee took Padmé away.

Father and daughter walked out into the ruins. Padmé was able to find a camera that still worked and was taking pictures for her memories. The two made their way to the ruins of the palace. Her hair was tied back with a band and she still wore the cloak. She stood on a high spot and took a picture. Her father was walking around the place to see if he could find anything. Padmé looked around her area. Her face was still pale with dark circles around her eyes. A soft breeze came by and Padmé noticed something blowing past. She walked over to it and picked it up.

"Dad, look," she said, holding up the book Utopia. She looked at it and tears welled in her eyes. Ruwee walked over to her and held her.

Chapter Sixteen
Stories